The present invention relates to refrigerated coolers and more particularly to coolers that permit access to the product from the top of the cooler, which are known as reach-in type coolers.
This application is a regular application that claims priority to provisional application Ser. No. 60/143,414, filed Jul. 12, 1999.
This application is a continuation-in-part of Design application Ser. No. 29/104,000, filed Apr. 26, 1999; Design application Ser. No. 29,104,064, filed Apr. 27, 1999 (which is a continuation-in-part of Design application Ser. No. 29/104,000, filed Apr. 26, 1999); and Design application Ser. No. 29/112,416, filed Oct. 14, 1999. The above-referenced parent applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
The sale of cold beverages is facilitated by refrigerated coolers that attract and encourage impulse purchases of the product in individual containers such as twenty ounce bottles. The use of a lighted display to show live examples of the kind of bottles contained in the cooler is known. Such lighted live product displays can be fitted to cover the front exterior wall of the cooler and include a light fixture as well as a horizontal floor on which the bottles are supported behind a transparent window. Typically, the enclosure forming such a product display is formed of sheet metal due to cost considerations that eliminate molded plastic as an optional construction material. However, such product displays are somewhat ordinary in appearance and may not adequately attract the attention of the traffic of potential customers passing in the vicinity of the location where the coolers are placed.
In order to cool the product stored in the cooler to the desired serving temperature and maintain the serving temperature, an efficient cooling mechanism is desired. Cold wall cooling is generally less efficient than forced air cooling. In order to maximize the space available within the storage compartment for containing the product, it is desirable to provide various dividers within the storage compartment to array the product in predetermined rows and columns. However, some divider designs may inhibit air flow and thus reduce the efficiency of forced air cooling within the storage compartment.
Adequate lighting of the product inside the storage compartment is also a concern. As each unit of product is removed from the storage compartment, the next unit of product is at a lower height within the storage compartment. Thus, the location of the focus of the lighting changes as the storage compartment is emptied of product. Yet the customer must have adequate visibility of the next unit of product.
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide an improved live product display for a refrigerated cooler.
It is another principal object of the present invention to provide a live product display for a refrigerated cooler that is more effective in attracting the attention of the traffic of potential customers in the vicinity of the cooler""s location.
It is a further principal object of the present invention to provide a live product display that is adaptable to more visually creative display of live examples of the refrigerated product contained in the cooler.
It is still another principal object of the present invention to provide a refrigerated, reach-in cooler having a cooling mechanism that efficiently cools the product stored in the cooler to the desired serving temperature and maintains the product at that serving temperature.
It is yet a further principal object of the present invention to provide a refrigerated, reach-in cooler having a mechanism that maximizes the space available within the storage compartment for containing the product without reducing the efficiency of the mechanism for cooling the product stored in the cooler.
It is a still further principal object of the present invention to provide a refrigerated, reach-in cooler having a mechanism that provides the customer with adequate visibility of the next unit of product notwithstanding the changing level of the product in the storage compartment as each unit of product is removed from the storage compartment.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
To achieve the objects and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, a refrigerated beverage merchandiser is provided, comprising:
a cabinet defining an exterior and an interior; a storage compartment disposed in the interior of the cabinet and defining an entrance at one end of the storage compartment; a light recess disposed near the entrance of the storage compartment and configured to communicate with the storage compartment; a lighting fixture disposed in the light recess and configured to project light across the entrance of the storage compartment and onto the product stored uppermost in the storage compartment; a plenum disposed in the interior of the cabinet, the plenum defining a fan housing and a return chamber, the fan housing being disposed in an upper portion of the plenum and the return chamber being disposed in a lower portion of the plenum and beneath the fan housing; a divider wall defining an upper section and a lower section disposed beneath the upper section, the divider wall being disposed between the storage compartment and the plenum, the divider wall defining at least one upper air passage in the upper section and at least one air passage in the lower section; a least one top louver defined in the upper section of the divider wall and configured and disposed to direct air to flow through the upper air passage from the fan housing into the storage compartment, the top louver being angled at an acute angle with respect to the vertically least one bottom louver defined in the lower section of the divider wall and configured and disposed to direct air to flow through the lower air passage from the storage compartment into the return chamber; an alignment mechanism disposed and configured in the storage compartment for maintaining the contents of the storage compartment in an orderly array, the alignment mechanism including at least one base tray and at least one cap rack disposed in alignment with and opposed to the base tray, the base tray being configured to receive and surround the bases of a plurality of aligned beverage containers, the cap rack being configured to receive and surround the portions of a plurality of aligned beverage containers that provide access to the beverage stored in the containers; the cap rack being disposed adjacent the top louver and the bottom louver and including a pair of spaced apart wires having opposite ends anchored to the divider wall and having opposite end portions extending outwardly away from the divider wall sufficiently to capture one side of the portions of a plurality of aligned beverage containers that provide access to the beverage stored in the containers that are disposed in the alignment mechanism, the wires having elongated intermediate portions configured to extend for substantially the height of the storage compartment, the wires in each pair being spaced apart to allow sufficient clearance for the portions of a plurality of aligned beverage containers that provide access to the beverage stored in the containers to be disposed between the wires; an evaporator fan disposed in the fan housing, the fan having a rotatable shaft and a blade attached to the shaft, the shaft being disposed at an acute angle relative to the vertical and generally parallel to the acute angle of the top louver; an evaporator disposed in the plenum between the fan housing and the return chamber;
a display case configured for product display and defining an interior and an exterior, the display case being connected to the exterior of the cabinet, the display case defining a housing having a front panel, the front panel defining a window, the display case including a transparent member configured and disposed to cover the window, the display case including a rear wall configured to be selectively joined to the housing to enclose the interior of the display case, the display case including a hanger configured to support at least one unit of the product for visual exposure through the window, the hanger being configured to be selectively attached to the rear wall, the display case including a pivoting mechanism connected to the housing and supporting the housing in selective pivoting movement toward and away from the rear wall of the display case, the display case including a locking mechanism connected to the housing and configured to selectively lock the housing to prevent pivoting movement of the housing away from the rear wall of the display case, the display case including a lighting fixture disposed in the housing and configured to illuminate the interior of the display case from above the hangers when the housing is locked to the cabinet.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate several embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.